Background: Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease that primarily affects the spine and sacroiliac joints, often leading to pain and functional impairment. Neuropathic pain, which can complicate the clinical picture of AS, is underrecognized and may significantly impact disease activity, functional capacity, and quality of life in these patients.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the neuropathic pain component in patients with AS and to examine the relationship of neuropathic pain with disease activity, functional capacity and quality of life.

Methods: This intervention-type study included 27 AS patients diagnosed according to ASAS criteria and 27 healthy subjects. Neuropathic pain was assessed with the painDETECT questionnaire, disease activity was assessed with the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), functional status with the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) and quality of life with the Ankylosing Spondylitis Quality of Life Scale (ASQoL).

Results: No significant difference was found between patients with AS and healthy individuals in terms of demographic data. The prevalence of neuropathic pain in AS patients was 33.3%. Patients with neuropathic pain (painDETECT >12) had higher BASDAI, BASFI and ASQoL scores compared to patients without neuropathic pain (p<0.05). There were significant positive correlations between neuropathic pain score and disease activity (BASDAI: r=0.850), functional status (BASFI: r=0.788) and quality of life (ASQoL: r=0.799) (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Neuropathic pain is a common condition in AS patients and is associated with disease activity, functional capacity and quality of life. Therefore, the neuropathic pain component should be considered in AS patients and treatment options should be organized accordingly.

REFERENCES: [1] Zhou L, Li T, Wu X, et al. Assessment of Neuropathic Pain in Ankylosing Spondylitis: Prevalence and Characteristics. Pain Ther. 2021;10:1467-79.

[2] Choi JH, Lee SH, Kim HR, et al. Association of neuropathic-like pain characteristics with clinical and radiographic features in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Clin Rheumatol. 2018;37:3077-86.

Acknowledgements: NIL.

Disclosure of Interests: None declared.

© The Authors 2025. This abstract is an open access article published in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ). Neither EULAR nor the publisher make any representation as to the accuracy of the content. The authors are solely responsible for the content in their abstract including accuracy of the facts, statements, results, conclusion, citing resources etc.